Football coach pushes on after brain injury

Kevin Dodier, 23, left, sits in his bedroom with his mother Kristen at their Westminster home. Kevin hit his head when he was involved in a skateboarding accident at age 20, and is taking slow steps to walk again with the help of his mother. It hasn't been an easy road, with Kevin's father Michael dying of cancer in August. In a competitive sports family, Kevin is an avid fan of Miami teams including the Miami Dolphins and Miami Heat. KEVIN LARA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

WESTMINSTER – Kevin Dodier was in his second season of coaching the junior high football squad at Bethany Christian Academy when he learned the students’ grades had been suffering, putting them in danger of being ineligible to play.

Dodier, a former student at the school, assembled his team and led them from the practice field to the Westminster school’s study hall. He stood over them as they did their homework.

It was September 2010, and one of the last times Dodier would be with his team.

“He wanted them to get good grades. He wanted them to play football,” said Terre Marriott-Nguyen, the school’s activities director. “He wanted them to do well. He was an inspiration to that football team.”

Just a few days later, on Oct. 2, Dodier fractured the back of his skull after falling from a skateboard while hanging out with friends.

His brain swelled and the 20-year-old was placed in a coma at UCI Medical Center. Five days after the accident, Dodier was diagnosed with diffuse axonal injury – a severe injury to the connectors of the brain. The outlook was grim: Dodier – an avid surfer, an aspiring physical trainer and a handball player who once tried out for the U.S. Olympic team – would likely spend the rest of his life in a vegetative state.

“I told him I didn’t believe that’s what would happen,” said Dodier’s mother, Kristen, a former behavioral therapist who has spent that past three years taking care of her oldest son and husband, who was diagnosed with duodenal cancer in January. “I believe the Lord has a different plan for him.”

Dodier spent a month in a coma and returned home after seven months in hospitals. Today, that original diagnosis is little more than a distant memory and the Westminster resident, now 23, is making strides in his recovery.

Partially paralyzed, dependent on a wheelchair and his speech severely slowed, Dodier is working to achieve his goals: to walk again and, maybe, get back on the sidelines.

So far, he can move his arms, but he is working on picking up items and putting them in a basket. He can lift his legs, but has yet to get the strength to put weight on them. He is trying to improve communication.

“Kevin has always been goal oriented,” said his aunt, Ginger Dodier-Williams, on a recent afternoon in the Westminster home that Dodier shares with his mother and two younger brothers. “I would say he’s just accepting everything as it is and doing the best he can.”

For Dodier, that means laughing at jokes with visitors and watching sports despite the setbacks – infections, seizures, soaring fevers. The road to recovery has been arduous. Dodier has endured at least 12 surgeries, rounds of medical complications and, in August, the death of one of his biggest supporters: his father, Michael, who passed away after a nine-month battle with cancer. He was 51.

Still, Dodier remains positive, upbeat and determined – attributes that made him a popular coach and a successful athlete, said his family and friends.

“He’s the kind of kid that walks into the room and he’s this shining light,” said Marriott-Nguyen. “He’s one of those people you’re drawn to – very full of life and very positive.”

Traumatic head injuries from skateboarding accidents are common, said Dr. Luis Montes, chair of the pediatrics department at Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center in Downey. Montes has worked with Dodier for a year and a half on his rehabilitation.

Kevin Dodier, 23, left, sits in his bedroom with his mother Kristen at their Westminster home. Kevin hit his head when he was involved in a skateboarding accident at age 20, and is taking slow steps to walk again with the help of his mother. It hasn't been an easy road, with Kevin's father Michael dying of cancer in August. In a competitive sports family, Kevin is an avid fan of Miami teams including the Miami Dolphins and Miami Heat. KEVIN LARA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Kevin Dodier, 23, who is partially paralyzed from a skateboarding accident, is kissed by his mother Kristen in their Westminster home. Despite recent hardships, including losing his father Michael to cancer in August, Kevin is being helped by his mother to learn how to walk again. KEVIN LARA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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